Monday, June 15, 2009

FEI Buys Australian Firm

Hillsboro, Oregon-based FEI Company, a developer of atomic-scale microscopes and related scientific equipment, said Monday that it has acquired the Mineral Liberation Analysis business of JKTech Pty Ltd, a part of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) and other Centres of the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) at The University of Queensland. According to FEI, it paid AUD 5 million (approximately $4M US). FEI and JKTech have been working together to deliver automated mineralogy systems, used to identify minerals in drill cores, cuttings, and other materials, and are used in oil & gas drilling as well as mining.